Robvenom said
1: They get no updates.
2: No support.
3: Those who upload the themes usually add in their own malicious code ranging from a simple tracker to having the ability to completely hijack the website.
Only morons download paid themes for free off a pirate site.

Lets apply the above points to several themes we’ve purchased leagally in the past:

1. Expensive shopping cart theme author disappeared off the face of the Earth leaving us with an insecure theme and no updates. Other themes left without updates for months leaving us to fix them ourselves to ensure they remain compatible with WP.

2. Apparently authors and Themeforest themselves aren’t obliged to provide this, and the author of one recent theme we bought, full of bugs, banned us from their support forum for ‘taking up too much of our precious time’. 50% of the themes we’ve purchased have atrocious support, and we can wait weeks for a reply – if we even get one at all.

3. On several occasions we’ve found Base64 code in themes and/or associated plugins. No reason for it to be there, no idea what it was hiding, but unusual activity on the server occurring on these accounts meant we had to delete the themes.

I agree that you’d have to be a moron to download an illegal theme and activate it on your server, but sometimes I’m left feeling like a moron after I’ve spent money here on legal themes.

I’ve also had my ‘offensive’ comments removed on Themeforest when I queried one new theme, as it was identical in design to one we’d purchased a few weeks back. Now that’s also an act of piracy, but one which Themeforest seems to condone and anyone speaking up to defend the author that’s had his design ripped off is deemed to be ‘offensive’.

designmonstr said
This morning when I woke up I received an email from PiracyGuard.net and this is what it said:

Greetings, I am a Consultant working for PiracyGuard.net, a firm that assists digital product owners to fight piracy. It has come to our knowledge that there are pirated links of your theme ‘enFORCE’. So far, your theme has been downloaded 44 times illegally. The price of your theme is $15, which translates to $660 in lost sales that cannot be recovered.

We can help you to remove these links so your sales can go up again. Remember, you are losing potential revenue as long as these pirated links are active. If you would like to see a sample of these pirated links or would like additional information, please reply and I will be happy to coordinate with you. Cheers!

Have anyone else been in a similar situation. Is these guys real. I thought ThemeForest had there own sort of police doing this job. Should I contact them?

Any guidance will be appreciated as I am really concerned about losing sales

familychoice said
3. On several occasions we’ve found Base64 code in themes and/or associated plugins. No reason for it to be there, no idea what it was hiding, but unusual activity on the server occurring on these accounts meant we had to delete the themes.

Well, as I know, SMOF does use Base64 code for its backup / restore settings. Therefore, those themes are most likely using it for their theme options framework.

Back to topic, it does look like scam to me. It’s impossible to remove those links. Although you might have ‘potentially lost’ $660, but you will lose more when you pay for the service because those ‘lost sales’ won’t ‘return’ and you can’t guarantee that it will never be shared illegally again.

familychoice said
3. On several occasions we’ve found Base64 code in themes and/or associated plugins. No reason for it to be there, no idea what it was hiding, but unusual activity on the server occurring on these accounts meant we had to delete the themes.

Well, as I know, SMOF does use Base64 code for its backup / restore settings. Therefore, those themes are most likely using it for their theme options framework.

No, the code was in the theme templates, not the admin section, and some themes have been hacked within a few days of installation. The use of outdated TimThumb files probably didn’t help and one particular commercial slider was hacked every time we used it.

My point is just to highlight that unless you find a good supportive author, buying a theme legitimately provides you with no more peace of mind than it does downloading a pirated copy.

If authors listened to clients occasionally, instead of continually whinging about the ratings system and low sales, and guaranteed support and regular updates, then they might attract a bit more loyalty and higher sales.

We don’t use pirated themes, but I can see why a lot of people think it’s a viable option. After all Themeforest seems to condone in-house copying so what sort of example does that provide for potential theme buyers?